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J. W. WETMORE.

4 WAGON TONGUE "SUPPORT. No. 279,895.. Patented June 19,1883.

jaw 67k? 7 UNITED STATES PATENT- ()FFIcE.

JEROME W. WETMORE, OF ERIE, PENNSYLVANIA.

WAGON-TONGUE SUPPORT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 279,895, dated June 19, 1883. i

Application filed October 14, 1882. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, JEROME W. WETMORE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Erie, in the county of Erie and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Wagoh-Tongue Supports, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to torsion-springs when used in supporting the wagon-tongue; and the objects of myimprovement are to give, in compact form, greater lengths to the sections of the spring which are subject to the torsional strains, and concentrate more completely the down-pressure on the end of the tongue back of the axial bolt, in order that, even by extreme depression of the tongue, the steel shall not lose its elasticity or become partially set, and in order that the single spring may equalize its down-pressure and lifting force around the axial bolt and more completely perform the office of the double springs. I attain these objects by the device illustrated by the accompanying drawing, in which the figure is a perspective view of a wagon-tongue and hounds withthe support applied thereto.

. A represents the hounds of the wagon; B B G, the tongue; (I, the axial bolt; E e, the crooked lever-arm, which locked and fixed on oneof the hounds, near the axle; E, the longer and F the shorter of the torsional sections of the spring; E the oblique arm, which operates, first, the section F, and, secondly, the section E, of the spring. This terminates in the hook e, by which the arm is connected by the chain 9 to the tongue 0. Section F is nearly vertical over section E. The returnsection F of the spring, while it gives a very compact and convenient form, gives greater flexibility to accommodate the forward-andback motion of the forward end of the spring under the variations produced by the rise and fall of the tongue.

I do not claim a single torsion-spring when the steel rod passes clear across both hounds; nor do I claim a single or pair of torsion-springs passing about over the axial bolt, and each bent with two right angles to connect the forward end or ends with a strap or loop on the tongue,-

adjustable by a set-screw under the tongue; nor

do I claim in the wagon-tongue support the hook of the spring for the hounds at the axle.

What I claim is The single torsion-spring wagon-tongue support, when, with one end held by a hook on one of the hounds near the axle, it passes along the outside of one of the hounds to a point back of and some distance from the axial bolt, then transversely across the tongue without reaching the hound on the opposite side, then by a return-bend passing near itself back to or past the tongue, and then, with an upward inclination, forward to a chain-loop on the tongue forward of the axial bolt.

JEROME w. WETMORE.

Witnesses: WM. 1?. HAYES, WALTER ScoTT. 

